An interesting mix there, one that is full of guys who had a cup of coffee in the NHL. In fact, the only player on that list without any big-league experience is Alban, the former Michigan State standout who is perhaps a little small for the NHL. He was in the AHL up until 2001-02 with Utah, and made the jump to Russia in 2005.

I know Ling's headed back to this side of the pond to play in the Maple Leafs organization, but other than that, I'm assuming most of these guys will be back in Russia with McLennan.

I'll look into the other leagues Frank mentions and get back to you.

UPDATE So much for Frank's hypothesis about the dearth of Canadian talent in Finland's top league; there's a ton of guys playing over there, many of them obscure names:

Cory Murphy was the one who got a lot of press for being the only non-NHLer on this year's IIHF World Championship team. He signed with Florida earlier this year. Good for him - he's 29 and has never played a professional game in North America.

In fact, the only player on that list without any big-league experience is Alban, the former Michigan State standout who is perhaps a little small for the NHL.

Chad Alban a little small? Just wait until you get a look at Jeff Lerg, who just won an NCAA Championship with the Spartans. I'm not sure his shoulders reach the crossbar. Guy's quick as hell, though; made some beautiful saves in St. Louis.

The MSU/Maine semi-final was an interesting contrast, what with Lerg lining up across the rink from Ben Bishop. Officially, there's more than a foot of height difference, and I'd bet that it's more like 15-16 inches.

James you never fail to amaze me on how quickly you can get this type of info. Thanks.

Your comments about the number of goaltenders from North America is interesting. Adding McLennan to this list, 7 of the 12 are goaltenders. The big knock on Russian hockey was that apart from a few elite players (Khabibulin, Nabokov, Bryyzgalov) the Russians are terrible in producing goaltenders. This info seems to support that thesis. I wouldn't be surprised if they have a number of goaltenders from Finland and Sweden also playing in the Russian Super League.

As a corolary, I would guess that there are few North American goaltenders playing in Finland!!

I am quite surprised though at the number of Canadians playing there.

Alec, thaks for the list on the German Elite League. There's enough Canadians there to support a Tim Horton's franchise!

Funny how six out of the 11 Canadians playing in Russia are goalies. Canada is renowned for our goaltending depth, of course, but I wonder why it is that the Russian system is doing such a poor job of developing goaltending?

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About Me

A sportswriter at The Globe and Mail, James covers the NHL and the game of hockey. He is a member of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, a radio and TV analyst with TSN and was the NHL network manager at SB Nation from 2008 to 2010. A graduate of Thompson Rivers and Ryerson universities, James grew up in Kamloops, B.C. — one of Canada's great hockey cities — and was a season ticket holder in the Blazers' glory years.

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